摘要

The natural gas hydrate exploration and evaluation of South China Sea are mainly concentrated in continental margin slope deep water area of the northern South China Sea in the last 20 years. Major breakthroughs in the exploration and production of natural gas hydrate have been made in Shenhu area, Dongsha area and Lingshui-Songnan area of Qiongdongnan basin, where three billions of cubic meters of reserves of natural gas hydrate reservoir were found. A preliminary evaluation prediction about the south China sea natural gas hydrate resources is scale of 80 billion tons of oil equivalent, which has made major achievements in the natural gas hydrate exploration stage of South China Sea. However, where are the gas hydrate resources beneficial areas to further deepen and expand exploration in the South China Sea? In particular, where are the strategic replacement areas for sustainable rolling exploration? Is there any geological condition for gas hydrate formation in the continental slope-ocean continent transition (OCT) zone or even ocean basin area which is closely adjacent to the exploration of oil, gas and hydrate in deep water of continental slope at present? In this paper it intends to make a preliminary analysis and discussion on the key issues affecting and determining the future deployment and trend of gas hydrate exploration. It is hoped that it can be of some benefit to the exploration and evaluation of gas hydrate resources in the South China Sea and the selection of strategic replacement areas.